Nish Kumar has opened up about suffering from PTSD following death threats he endured during a particularly ‘weird’ time in his career.
As a vocally left-wing British Indian comic, Nish, 39, found himself the target of vitriolic right-wing trolls online – hate that came to a scary peak during the 2019 general election.
While Nish told Metro last year that online hate became so bad he had to call the police, he’s now divulged the horrific impact it had on his mental wellbeing.
Chatting to fellow comedian Keemah Bob on her podcast Icebergs, Nish revealed he suffered from PTSD in the wake of racist death threats following his election satire.
This involved whole days alone spent thinking about someone killing him.
‘I started seeing a therapist because of some like quite extreme, weird s**t that was going on in my work life in the end of 2019,’ Nish said.
When asked how his PTSD manifested, the Pod Save the UK host revealed: ‘Panic attacks and also emotional dysregulation for me was a big one.
‘There was some points where I would suddenly feel like, “Oh my god I’m gonna cry like out of nowhere,” and you can feel water rising in your chest.’
The Mash Report star explained how sometimes this feeling was provoked, but other times it came on randomly mid-conversation as his body was in a ‘high state of alert’.
PTSD symptoms
In most cases, the symptoms develop during the first month after a traumatic event.
But in a minority of cases, there may be a delay of months or even years before symptoms start to appear.
- physical sensations, such as pain, sweating, feeling sick or trembling
- flashbacks
- nightmares
- repetitive and distressing images or sensations
- avoidance
- irritability
- angry outbursts
- sleeping problems (insomnia)
- difficulty concentrating
Many people with PTSD also have a number of other mental health problems, and issues with substance abuse. Other physical symptoms include headaches, dizziness, chest pains and stomach aches.
‘I should say I have the lowest level PTSD possible,’ Nish added, explaining: ‘There are grades with it. But even with my version, there’d be some days where out of nowhere in conversation I’m shouting or emotional.’
When this emotion comes on, Nish said he couldn’t explain why he felt it. He was left asking why.
‘A lot of it came from death threats and – this sounds like such a bananas thing to say – but most of the day I was imagining being killed,’ Nish said.
‘Like, if I was left on my own, I was imagining what it was gonna be like when someone came to my house and killed me.’
Talking to Metro last year, Nish said he had to find a way to avoid toxic online conversations.
‘I don’t want to have a meeting with the police in any context ever again. But in December 2019 [the trolling] became so bad that we did have to involve the police,’ he said.
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He continued: ‘It is a sewer. Twitter [now X] was bad and then got markedly worse after Elon Musk took it over. I do think a big way that I handle it is by paying a therapist, that is genuinely a big part of it.
‘I would love the temperature to come down a little bit in general, but more realistically I just need to figure out a way to not be on any of those websites.’
‘It’s purely a way of causing stress [by getting involved] with people like Laurence Fox because there’s no way to win that interaction. There’s no way to embarrass somebody who has no shame,’ he explained.
Icebergs is available wherever you get your podcasts.
Need support?
For emotional support, you can call the Samaritans 24-hour helpline on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org, visit a Samaritans branch in person or go to the Samaritans website.
Their HOPELINE247 is open every day of the year, 24 hours a day. You can call 0800 068 4141, text 88247 or email: pat@papyrus-uk.org.
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